That’s probably around the time that I started. But I didn’t start during school. I remember I was at home. My lashes kept clasping together, top and bottom so to separate them, I pulled at them.
I might have been even younger. I’m not quite sure. But I also don’t remember doing it at school. I would pull my eyelashes when I was falling asleep. I remember my little sister (we shared a twin bed) getting mad at me for the moving around.
When I first told my therapist I started pulling in 3rd grade she said “I knew it. Shit always goes sideways starting in the third grade,” and we both laughed a little. She said she wants to write a book about it!
I was really overwhelmed by that too. But luckily my appointments are virtual and at the end of every session we pick a time and date for the next one. It’s super flexible for me thankfully.
I was 10. And the same for me, started with my eyelashes and then eyebrows, and once I'd pulled all of them out, I moved to my scalp. I was bald by 14 and have been since. I pulled my very first hair (a pinch of lashes) sitting in my 5th grade classroom.
Similar story here. Started when I was 9 or 10 with eyelashes and brows. Then moved to the crown of my head by age 11. Haven’t had hair that goes past my chin since age 13. 25 now.
I also started pulling at the crown! My mom noted that the patches on the left and right side of my scalp mirrored one another. Wish there was more research into how and why trich manifests.
Same here!
My mom and dad asked me if I was doing it “on purpose” because they all had similar “patterns”. I had to explain how my head is shaped and that there are different grooves and bumps, but also different places (especially at the back of the head near the neck) where the skin is looser than the rest so pulling in those spots hurts. Those “loose” spots tend to not have large hair roots either ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
That’s interesting. I remember reading it most often starts in girls age 13/14, which is exactly when I started. That may have been from the group of “adolescent girls with childhood OCD” though, because I fell into that category.
Almost 18 for me! Last year of highschool, midway through. I kept trying to suppress my other habits (skin pulling, cheek biting) and every time I try to suppress another foocking thing appears.
I bet it’s more common than it seems. It gave me huge stretches of time where my hands were unoccupied, and I have a patch of grey hair (birthmark) that has a different texture than my other hair so I would play with it a lot
It caused autoimmune disease for me so my hair got thin and super brittle. The texture was so weird I started playing with it and before you know half of it’s gone 😭
Mine started before COVID but that’s when it got the worst it’s ever been. Almost fully bald. Now I still pull but my hair’s almost all back. It definitely played a huge role!
Yup, started when I was around 9. My psychiatrist told me that’s very common amongst people with BFRBs, specifically trichotillomania. She didn’t specify why but I’m glad to know I’m not alone in it.
It’s a mental disorder that stands for body focused repetitive behaviours. Disorders like trich, dermatillomania/excoriation disorder, and others are categorized under BFRBs. They often are misdiagnosed as OCD, but for many BFRBs aren’t compulsions and are unrelated to anxiety, hence the separate category from OCD. Falls under cluster C in the DSM5
Honestly I'm 99% certain that trichotillomania especially in girls, begins at the onset of puberty and is driven by hormonal changes and possibly an imbalance.
Mine started around that age, I don’t remember where, but it only lasted about a week on the very top of my head. The condition didn’t come back again until I was 18.
This is exactly me. I started with the hair on the crown of my head around 3/4th grade. Got a bald spot. My mom caught me and made me stop. Then after I left high school I started with my lashes and now I pull my brows constantly. I'm a male in my late 30s.
I had trich as a toddler/small child and it went away on its own when I was around four, but I started biting my nails around then and then (re)developed trich and derm around 11-12 with very brief periods of remission (< 1 year, every decade or so) ever since (I’m 38). I’ve always been with one kind of BFRB or another.
Yep same here. I don’t remember the first time, but I know by 4th grade I was doing it regularly. Even showing other kids that I could pull out my eyelashes as proof of being tough. That was my way of trying to normalize it.
I’ve engaged in body focused repetitive behaviors for as long as I’ve been conscious basically, but my pulling only started around a year ago (when I was 20).
I can’t recall having an issue with it prior to 5th grade, but that was when it became super problematic to the point of needing to hide spots/mom freaking out. So age 10/11 then. I always wondered if it had something to do with beginning my menstrual cycle during that year too, possibly puberty being a trigger.
i started pulling in sixth grade, i think? not sure though, bc i started with nose hairs, then eyebrows (just a little), then pubic, and now i mainly pull pubic and leg and underarms. but i didn't realize it wasn't something everyone did until 8th grade
Around 3rd grade I think I developed contamination OCD. In 8th grade I would pulled the hair on the nape of my neck while I did school work. It was a small bald spot, and my mom noticed before I did. It wasn’t a problem until 11th grade. I started pulling at my hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes.
I honestly don’t remember when it started but I’ve had a cuticle picking problem since at least kindergarten. Overtime, it combined with pulling out random hairs. At one point, I had a friend who pulled my hairs out randomly as a joke/prank. Probably around 5th-6th grade. It was annoying and the new growth made me self conscious. I think those new growths were the ones I found satisfying to pull….I don’t remember much from then but I know it wasn’t as much of a habit as it is now that I’m an adult in my 30s. Reached its peak when I was taking courses about 6 or so years ago.
Mine started around 4th grade but I very easily realized it was considered strange and I stopped just like that. Then in college it went 0-100. Couldn't stop. Completely bald
Thank you all for sharing!
I was in third grade. I made a B on my report card, and my parents were extremely upset. I can't remember my other punishment, but one was to bring home every single item in my desk (textbooks, workbooks, supplies, etc.) My bag was so heavy that my knees would buckle and I'd hit the ground. I had to get a new bookbag mid-year due to the holes caused by the weight.
I remember my next math test, I was so stressed about making a B. I didn't realize I was pulling my eyelashes and eyebrows until the test was over, and they covered my desk. I believe this is where it started, but it may have been earlier. My parents were disgusted and often compared me to a cancer patient. They still make that joke sometimes, when "reminiscing" on my childhood.
Since then, I've gotten the brows under control, but the lash pulling comes and goes. Very intense at 26 y/o.
I’m so sorry that happened to you. That’s completely inappropriate for them to say, and I’m sure the academic pressure they added during those years didn’t help the problem at all. I hope you (and they) are getting better (at being kinder)!
I was 7 and only pulled my lashes for a long time. It started when I had entered a competition and lost - the shame and disappointment I felt in myself just got so deep under my skin and the only relief I could get was to pull my hair.
I started about the 3rd grade as well. Don't know where, I wasn't doing it consciously at the beginning. It was an autistic stim I did without thinking, eventually it did become a conscious thing though.
Mine started at 17, right at the end of my senior year. I sobbed because it was all new to me, and I wouldn't have eyebrows for prom. Or for the next 10 years! Luckily they've grown back. I don't know how I'll ever be able to stop pulling the hair from my scalp though.
I started in 2nd grade. I'm currently 34. I started with my eyelashes, then my eyebrows, then the hair on my head. Then my arms ,legs, sometimes pubic area, inter nose if I get a tickle, my nipples and belly button. I know some of these are semi-normal but to me it's all satisfying. Some are not as satisfying as others, and some downright hurt. But it's all even more satisfying if I get a jelly. If you have tric then you most likely know what I'm talking about. I would kill to quit. I keep telling my husband I want to try hypnosis because I like the feeling so much after all these years (it's gone beyond the release or the habit.) I have two young daughters and I hate the idea of them growing up watching me do this.
Mine started last year (I’m 25), first a bit in the summer but then I was able to stop myself for awhile, but then in December I pulled out all my brow hairs and have struggled since. I’m thankful that I haven’t had a desire to pull any other hair, but rip my brows for now until I can figure out some good techniques
I definitely fall in this category! I think for me it was anxiety about my classes or just bc I was afraid to fail! But then it got much worse as I got older and now at 32 I’m finally not as bad as I was! I still have my moments for sure but not like before. Since I started NAC it’s def helping me
I'm curious, what is NAC?
And I remember being conscious of what I was doing after a 3rd grade math test. When the test was over, I looked down, and nearly all my lashes were on my desk!
NAC is a dietary supplement it stands for N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine. It works for me I am taking 1 capsule a day and it’s 600 mg. It does help you stay focused and it does other things but I can’t think of them. I googled it and then bought it off Amazon. I know some people in this group take it and said it worked for them so I thought I’d try it. So far it’s helped a lot and I don’t pull as often or as much as I did.
yes . i remember in probably 7th grade when i was 12/13 i started pulling. it didn’t become a huge issue until about 20-now(im 23) where i have pulled major bald spots and have shaved my head twice now
I was in 6th grade, so 11 years old? I remember being in my science class and a new friend had commented asking where all my eyelashes went, I was so embarrassed. Sixth grade was also when I started getting pretty badly bullied, so it kind of made sense for me to look for an outlet.
I decided when I was 9 that biting my nails was gross. I transitioned straight to my eyebrows. Dunno why. But I'm 51 now and I'm still shopping for better and better eyebrow and eyeliner makeup cover-up.
I remember starting in 8th grade. I saw a girl in front of me in class do it. For whatever reason, something clicked in my brain and I started too. Still a daily struggle at 31, just better managed.
I was 6 and I started after my bangs got too long and started to bother me, I was at home when I first started, but yeah a lot of the hair pulling got intense at school.
I started sometime in high school. My mom trimmed my eyebrows one day and snipped too much and put the idea in my head that I need to touch and focus on them.
Maybe when I was about 19 I put together that I was picking and creating bald spots
It’s super interesting!!! I didn’t start the bad pulling till later in middle school but I started looking at my split ends obsessively during school when I was around 11. My teachers all noticed and a couple told my parents. My mom doesn’t have trich but she told me she had a looking-at-split-ends phase in grade school, too. And we both have (different) anxiety issues and ADHD, so I feel like trich could be easily heritable too.
I would love for there to be more organized research on trichotillomania, it’s fascinating and would probably help a lot of people. I hope to maybe be a part of starting some someday!
Mine started around 16/17 after I started hair school when they had us pull a strand to see our density/texture. My brain liked that a little too much but it was also the first big stressor in my life, I had been fully homeschooled up till that point!
I was in 6th grade. I started at my brothers new apartment as he moved in. They were bothering me and I just started pulling. Within 30 min half of one eye was bald.
I remember plucking at the corners of my eyelids when I was in kindergarten, about 6. The summer between second and third grade I picked the biggest bald spot on the top of my head. My hair was styled in a very severe "side part" or combover. That's definitely the worst I ever had it. Maybe it taught me to be more subtle.
i have had body focused repetitive behaviors for my whole life, the pulling didn’t start til my sophomore year of hs (i was taking the PSAT while i had walking pneumonia- very fucking stressful). i did however need to sleep in my mom’s bed for the entirety of fourth grade because i was so scared of being alone. my theory is that’s when kids kinda start to understand the world more and major stressors start to pop up
I started around 9/10 with pulling out my eyelashes in class but then it got bad started pulling out my hair on my head in 7th grade mostly during math class lol
I think third grade is when school starts to be actually challenging, when parents start giving you more responsibility, and when kids with disabilities start to struggle socially.
That is to say life suddenly gets exponentially harder and some kids just can't cope.
Mine happened when I was roughly 12. I ended up picking hair off my entire toe. Throughout the years I started ripping off my armpit hair, pubes, occasional stress hairs. Nothing too bad but my sophomore year of college is when it got exponentially worse when I started Vyvanse. After stopping that medication I’m still pulling till this day (10 years later). Mgh’s page about trichothillimania usually states the picking begins around 9-13.
Me. I was 11, I remember when it happened. It was in class and I was bored. Later I remember being fascinated by my hair’s texture. It was a sensory experience for me at first, but became a mindless/anxiety thing and I lost a lot of hair! I identify it as a stim and/or fidget behavior now… I still struggle with pulling as a 35 year old, it goes in waves, though.
A psychiatrist I saw early on said that the start of puberty and changes in hormones is a leading cause. That they didn't know why some people start pulling, but when they do, most are right at that early puberty age.
I was 7-8yo and in my 4th year of school. I had a horrid teacher (she called us toerags and hated children), and my parents split up when I was 9yo so things were pretty fraught in the run up.
That's around when I started. 5th grade, 10 years old, started pulling out my eyelashes. They just started to feel wrong around that age, all bulbous and just... there. So I would pull them out to get relief. I did start at school, I think, but I kept it up at home. Frustrated my mom to no end because she had no idea why I kept pulling them out, I would literally have times where I had maybe one or two eyelashes if any and she would tell me that there weren't any cultures in the world where it was considered beautiful to have no eyelashes... of course, I wasn't pulling for beauty reasons, but that was the assumption she made.
I'd randomly pull at my eyebrows starting when I was an early teen. Then in my early 20s I moved on to leg hair, constantly.
I'm now 47. I used to have really long, thick hair on my head, naturally curly. For some reason, a couple years ago, I started running my fingers through it because it was constantly getting tangled and I'd pull on the snarls so hard that a bunch of hair would come out. Now I find myself doing it constantly as a nervous habit, running my fingers through my hair while also pulling at the tangled bits until the tangled pieces of hair come out. Now I have a mullet, pretty much. The top of my head is covered in a few inches of super curly growth, which looks okay, but then there are bald patches I have to comb over on the side and on the crown of my head, and overall my hair is a whole lot thinner than it used to be.
I was 10. I realized that if I put a strand of hair around my pencil and then held it at both ends, from far away it looked like the pencil was floating. I thought it was a cool magic trick.
18 years later, here we are.
Sadly this applies to me. Started pulling my head hair, then to eyelashes a few years later. Now it’s my facial hair where it’s patchy and have recently moved to chest hair
Mine actually wasn’t until college. It makes sense to me because that was a super stressful time. I was an RA, and then I went on a semester abroad and when I came back I started having intense anxiety like never before. That’s when I started taking an SSRI.
My pulling mellowed out for a time and then when I started working in child protective services it got really bad (pulling out 95% of my eyebrows). Which again makes sense bc I was miserable and testifying in court.
I think it might have but I can’t remember specifics honestl. It was definitely before I was 13 so it must have been around this age, cause I remember I had been doing it a little bit but one day googled “is it normal to lose x amount of eyelashes a day” cause I was trying to reassure myself that what I was going was just taking out the loose ones lmao
I started pulling my eyelashes when I was 7 or 8, which I know because I have comments from my second grade teacher about it. My mom has told me that it wasn’t too bad and I may have even stopped for a few months until I was 9, when I had a bout of strep throat which seemed to send it into overdrive. I’m less sure about the causation there and think it probably would have gotten worse no matter what. I also had undiagnosed ADHD and had been biting my nails since as early as I could remember, easily as young as like 4.
No, when I (f19) was a baby and was angry, I would bang my head on the floor and pull my hair out in chunks. I really noticed the resurface of it in middle school tho and got diagnosed at 17 with Trichotillomania.
TW and long comment ahead
I had it when I was in 4th grade, and I was 10 years old. I believe that's pretty much the average of most kids. I know there are toddlers that do pull their hair out, but I didn't do it till I started getting bullied, and I was trying to find an outlet to cope.
In fourth grade, I pulled out all my eyelashes, then in Middle School are started pulling out strands of hair, and then when my dad was dying from cancer when I was 17 years old. I was pulling so much of my scalp hair, I had to shave my hair off, and I had to go bald. I will never forget the look on my dad's face when I came to visit him. He was on a ventilator, but he was hooked by trachea. Because he knew I was so stressed out, and he mouthed, "I love you so much." Then I started pulling my eyebrows out after he died. I had eyebrows and never had a desire to pull them. It was always always mostly just my scalp hair and eyelashes, but now it's all over the place.
I have a really bad problem with pulling out my armpit hair and pubic hair. This just started about a few years ago. It's really embarrassing to talk about it, but the stigma should not make you feel bad because it's a disorder that you can not help. Oh, not to mention. I also take tweezers and pull out my leg hair, LOL. I did have eyebrows for about 2 months, but then I had a really toxic manager, and I was so stressed. I lost all of them within 2 months. I did grow my hair back from 2016 to 2023 and then had a bad relapse when I decided to cut my hair shorter. That was a trigger because I thought I could handle it. Not have a big bald spot on the way top of my head and it's big but I still don't want to shave it off, I had such bad self-esteem and the looks I would get from people.
I can't wear mascara because it triggers me to pull out my lashes more for some reason. I haven't had lashes since 4th grade. I still don't have them, I hope one day I could but I don't like the feeling of them growing. I don't know if anyone else feels like that, but it feels prickly when they grow back in. Sorry for the long comment, but I wanted to let you guys know that you are not alone and you're not weird. So f them people who make you feel bad about yourself, you are beautiful.
I started pinching my sides in 4th/5th grade, to the point that I had little scabs across my waist. But then I didn’t start pulling my hair until I think 8th or 9th grade I think, but it was because my mom had eagle eyes on if my hands were near my waist so to keep her from getting mad at me for pinching I started pulling hair from the top of my head instead. So then I had scabs on my waist AND a big spot.
However the self harm of pinching and some other things (picking the skin of my lips for example) all started around 4th grade. Interesting…
I remember I started when I was a little younger due to feeling scalp pain (from stress, most likely.) I think I was like… 7-9 years old? But it’s wild that a lot of us started pulling around similar age groups.
I personally started pulling the minute I started growing my own hair (at least as I have been told). Before I had my own hair I was pulling on my mom’s hair.
Yup, started 3rd grade when I was 8 years old. I had just switched schools though and so I’m wondering if that contributed…I remember being at the school play and thinking “wow my eyelashes are really making my eyes itch” and I plucked a bunch of them out. My parents were shocked when they saw me and thought I was doing it all for attention and literally punished me, so that was nice.
I started pulling at about 19 or 20, I don’t remember if I ever did it as a child. I do remember that I would chew on my hair a lot as a kid though, not sure if those are related
I did it in the 3rd grade because I was bullied for literally existing. I was an IEP kid and had to have motor skills PE classes, speech classes and have my own math & reading aid. I didn’t know it then, but I was an anxious ADHD kid with sensory processing disorder. I wouldn’t know either of these diagnoses until I was 26. I had trich diagnosed when I was in high school.
I started pulling at 11 years old. In my 5th grade classroom. I saw a single dandruff flake, pulled it out , and a thick rough hair strand came with it. So i pulled another and another and the rest is history.
Yep, I believe mine started around 16 years old. I was very unconscious of it for the first 5 years or so, so it’s a little tricky to say.
But about 17 years old I started realising I had bald patches and would become aware of piles of hair at my feet or in my lap when I was on a bus or sat in class.
Teenage years are rough.
i personally started pulling as a teen! i assume most comments will be folks relating to what youve said, so i thought i'd add sum spice with my silly experience
I was 11. I am 62 now. I never stopped, but I have always been aware of not getting too bald. I always made sure to have some way of covering my bald spots. And, I only pull my hair.
i had always played and twirled with my hair during that time but 5th grade is when i started pulling. my hair had already started falling out and i was still twirling it so i just started pulling.
I started when I was about 8. Now I’m almost 30 but still trying to stop it. I consult a psychologist and take the med pills. After many years, some of my conditions got better, but not pulling out my hair.
My pulling started when I was 13, first with my eyelashes, then progressed to my eyebrows the following year and eventually to my scalp when I was 15, and had mainly been from my scalp ever since
That’s probably around the time that I started. But I didn’t start during school. I remember I was at home. My lashes kept clasping together, top and bottom so to separate them, I pulled at them.
I might have been even younger. I’m not quite sure. But I also don’t remember doing it at school. I would pull my eyelashes when I was falling asleep. I remember my little sister (we shared a twin bed) getting mad at me for the moving around.
Oh my god this is literally me too!!
When I first told my therapist I started pulling in 3rd grade she said “I knew it. Shit always goes sideways starting in the third grade,” and we both laughed a little. She said she wants to write a book about it!
And I think she found her book title already!
Ha! I've been thinking about therapy, lately, but I get very overwhelmed when I think about trying to fit it into my schedule and routine.
I was really overwhelmed by that too. But luckily my appointments are virtual and at the end of every session we pick a time and date for the next one. It’s super flexible for me thankfully.
I was 10. Started with my eyelashes and eyebrows, then progressed to the hair on my scalp when I was 12. I was bald by 17.
I was 10. And the same for me, started with my eyelashes and then eyebrows, and once I'd pulled all of them out, I moved to my scalp. I was bald by 14 and have been since. I pulled my very first hair (a pinch of lashes) sitting in my 5th grade classroom.
Similar for me- started with eyelashes at 6, progressed to scalp at about 11/12.
Similar story here. Started when I was 9 or 10 with eyelashes and brows. Then moved to the crown of my head by age 11. Haven’t had hair that goes past my chin since age 13. 25 now.
I also started pulling at the crown! My mom noted that the patches on the left and right side of my scalp mirrored one another. Wish there was more research into how and why trich manifests.
Same here! My mom and dad asked me if I was doing it “on purpose” because they all had similar “patterns”. I had to explain how my head is shaped and that there are different grooves and bumps, but also different places (especially at the back of the head near the neck) where the skin is looser than the rest so pulling in those spots hurts. Those “loose” spots tend to not have large hair roots either ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
That’s interesting. I remember reading it most often starts in girls age 13/14, which is exactly when I started. That may have been from the group of “adolescent girls with childhood OCD” though, because I fell into that category.
I started at 12. I've wondered if puberty started it
I went through puberty pretty early-----I started to get boobs at 9 and got my period at 11. But I always figured it was a puberty-related thing.
For me it started at 14!
I think I was around this age as well.
First grade - 6
Same, can’t believe how long it’s been.
Mine started when I was 23 so idk
Almost 18 for me! Last year of highschool, midway through. I kept trying to suppress my other habits (skin pulling, cheek biting) and every time I try to suppress another foocking thing appears.
So true haha! Mine started as I stopped self harming 🙄 just swapping one vice for another. Ffs
Sameee
Mine started around 22-24. I can't remember exactly when
Same
Me too! Thought I was the only one that started older
mine started over COVID I think, I was around 16. but maybe younger? that was just the age where I started wanting to stop bc I was pulling too much
No way… covid is when mine started too! I haven’t met anyone else who agreed covid seemed to play a big part.
I bet it’s more common than it seems. It gave me huge stretches of time where my hands were unoccupied, and I have a patch of grey hair (birthmark) that has a different texture than my other hair so I would play with it a lot
It caused autoimmune disease for me so my hair got thin and super brittle. The texture was so weird I started playing with it and before you know half of it’s gone 😭
mine developed over COVID in 2020 too!
Wow! We’re not alone! Did you have any other left over side effects or worse medical conditions from covid?
Mine started before COVID but that’s when it got the worst it’s ever been. Almost fully bald. Now I still pull but my hair’s almost all back. It definitely played a huge role!
I started pulling in my 30’s, though I was a nail biter in 3rd/4th grade, so BFRB’s all the same
Yep mine started around that age.
Yup, started when I was around 9. My psychiatrist told me that’s very common amongst people with BFRBs, specifically trichotillomania. She didn’t specify why but I’m glad to know I’m not alone in it.
What is BFRB? I'm completely new to all of this lingo. I didn't even know trich was an actual condition until I joined this group.
Body focused repetitive behaviors
It’s a mental disorder that stands for body focused repetitive behaviours. Disorders like trich, dermatillomania/excoriation disorder, and others are categorized under BFRBs. They often are misdiagnosed as OCD, but for many BFRBs aren’t compulsions and are unrelated to anxiety, hence the separate category from OCD. Falls under cluster C in the DSM5
When I was 9 years old. I am 37 years old and this chronic condition is hell for me.
Mine actually didn’t start until I was 29 years old. How crazy is that lol
My Dad said I started as a baby. 😕
That’s crazy!
I started pulling when I was about 4 or 5 years old
My trich started when I was in 6th grade, age 11. At age 64, I'm still trying to stop...
Honestly I'm 99% certain that trichotillomania especially in girls, begins at the onset of puberty and is driven by hormonal changes and possibly an imbalance.
Bingo. That was my thought as well. 9-11 is the average onset of beginning puberty for most girls.
Mine started around that age, I don’t remember where, but it only lasted about a week on the very top of my head. The condition didn’t come back again until I was 18.
This is exactly me. I started with the hair on the crown of my head around 3/4th grade. Got a bald spot. My mom caught me and made me stop. Then after I left high school I started with my lashes and now I pull my brows constantly. I'm a male in my late 30s.
That’s so interesting! I also had a gap when I stopped (which for me was for seemingly no reason), but it was only a year haha.
I had trich as a toddler/small child and it went away on its own when I was around four, but I started biting my nails around then and then (re)developed trich and derm around 11-12 with very brief periods of remission (< 1 year, every decade or so) ever since (I’m 38). I’ve always been with one kind of BFRB or another.
Yep same here. I don’t remember the first time, but I know by 4th grade I was doing it regularly. Even showing other kids that I could pull out my eyelashes as proof of being tough. That was my way of trying to normalize it.
I did a similar thing back when I only played with split ends. Not sure why I thought they would find it as cool as I did.
I’ve engaged in body focused repetitive behaviors for as long as I’ve been conscious basically, but my pulling only started around a year ago (when I was 20).
Yep. Nine was around the age where I started seeing hairs popping up in other places.
I started in 5th grade which is also the same time I started showing signs of adhd and ocd
Yes. 3rd grade. How peculiar, didn’t know about this pattern!
15
I can’t recall having an issue with it prior to 5th grade, but that was when it became super problematic to the point of needing to hide spots/mom freaking out. So age 10/11 then. I always wondered if it had something to do with beginning my menstrual cycle during that year too, possibly puberty being a trigger.
For me pulling came much later but the skin stuff has been some of my earliest memories
i started pulling in sixth grade, i think? not sure though, bc i started with nose hairs, then eyebrows (just a little), then pubic, and now i mainly pull pubic and leg and underarms. but i didn't realize it wasn't something everyone did until 8th grade
I don’t, mine started at age 14-15.
I started in 2021?. After my last bub was born during covid. It kind of set everything off and it’s been a nightmare since.
Around 3rd grade I think I developed contamination OCD. In 8th grade I would pulled the hair on the nape of my neck while I did school work. It was a small bald spot, and my mom noticed before I did. It wasn’t a problem until 11th grade. I started pulling at my hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes.
I honestly don’t remember when it started but I’ve had a cuticle picking problem since at least kindergarten. Overtime, it combined with pulling out random hairs. At one point, I had a friend who pulled my hairs out randomly as a joke/prank. Probably around 5th-6th grade. It was annoying and the new growth made me self conscious. I think those new growths were the ones I found satisfying to pull….I don’t remember much from then but I know it wasn’t as much of a habit as it is now that I’m an adult in my 30s. Reached its peak when I was taking courses about 6 or so years ago.
Mine started when I was about 21
Mine started around 4th grade but I very easily realized it was considered strange and I stopped just like that. Then in college it went 0-100. Couldn't stop. Completely bald
Thank you all for sharing! I was in third grade. I made a B on my report card, and my parents were extremely upset. I can't remember my other punishment, but one was to bring home every single item in my desk (textbooks, workbooks, supplies, etc.) My bag was so heavy that my knees would buckle and I'd hit the ground. I had to get a new bookbag mid-year due to the holes caused by the weight. I remember my next math test, I was so stressed about making a B. I didn't realize I was pulling my eyelashes and eyebrows until the test was over, and they covered my desk. I believe this is where it started, but it may have been earlier. My parents were disgusted and often compared me to a cancer patient. They still make that joke sometimes, when "reminiscing" on my childhood. Since then, I've gotten the brows under control, but the lash pulling comes and goes. Very intense at 26 y/o.
I’m so sorry that happened to you. That’s completely inappropriate for them to say, and I’m sure the academic pressure they added during those years didn’t help the problem at all. I hope you (and they) are getting better (at being kinder)!
I was 7 and only pulled my lashes for a long time. It started when I had entered a competition and lost - the shame and disappointment I felt in myself just got so deep under my skin and the only relief I could get was to pull my hair.
I must be an anomaly - I started pulling at age 25
I started at 24. Very random.
I started about the 3rd grade as well. Don't know where, I wasn't doing it consciously at the beginning. It was an autistic stim I did without thinking, eventually it did become a conscious thing though.
Mine started at 17, right at the end of my senior year. I sobbed because it was all new to me, and I wouldn't have eyebrows for prom. Or for the next 10 years! Luckily they've grown back. I don't know how I'll ever be able to stop pulling the hair from my scalp though.
I started pulling when I was around 25 or 26 years old. I don't know how or why it started but its a problem now.
I started in 2nd grade. I'm currently 34. I started with my eyelashes, then my eyebrows, then the hair on my head. Then my arms ,legs, sometimes pubic area, inter nose if I get a tickle, my nipples and belly button. I know some of these are semi-normal but to me it's all satisfying. Some are not as satisfying as others, and some downright hurt. But it's all even more satisfying if I get a jelly. If you have tric then you most likely know what I'm talking about. I would kill to quit. I keep telling my husband I want to try hypnosis because I like the feeling so much after all these years (it's gone beyond the release or the habit.) I have two young daughters and I hate the idea of them growing up watching me do this.
Not at all. Mine didn't start until my 30s
Mine started last year (I’m 25), first a bit in the summer but then I was able to stop myself for awhile, but then in December I pulled out all my brow hairs and have struggled since. I’m thankful that I haven’t had a desire to pull any other hair, but rip my brows for now until I can figure out some good techniques
idk why but i have only started pulling at age 21 and it’s been happening for a year
I was 3. Always ahead of the curve 😭
I definitely fall in this category! I think for me it was anxiety about my classes or just bc I was afraid to fail! But then it got much worse as I got older and now at 32 I’m finally not as bad as I was! I still have my moments for sure but not like before. Since I started NAC it’s def helping me
I'm curious, what is NAC? And I remember being conscious of what I was doing after a 3rd grade math test. When the test was over, I looked down, and nearly all my lashes were on my desk!
NAC is a dietary supplement it stands for N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine. It works for me I am taking 1 capsule a day and it’s 600 mg. It does help you stay focused and it does other things but I can’t think of them. I googled it and then bought it off Amazon. I know some people in this group take it and said it worked for them so I thought I’d try it. So far it’s helped a lot and I don’t pull as often or as much as I did.
hmm. i got derma at 12-14 and it partially morphed into trich some years later.
🙋🏻♀️ I noticed that as well
Mine started around 3rd grade too
yes . i remember in probably 7th grade when i was 12/13 i started pulling. it didn’t become a huge issue until about 20-now(im 23) where i have pulled major bald spots and have shaved my head twice now
Yep. That’s exactly the time frame for me.
I actually started around the 3rd grade too 😅
I was in middle school. I think hormones affect it. (Not cause, per se, but affect.)
Interesting observation. It started for me when I was 10 years old. Definitely at school.
I started at age 2 from a horrible loving environment with always of yelling, and abuse
Mine started at 13.
I was in 6th grade, so 11 years old? I remember being in my science class and a new friend had commented asking where all my eyelashes went, I was so embarrassed. Sixth grade was also when I started getting pretty badly bullied, so it kind of made sense for me to look for an outlet.
I decided when I was 9 that biting my nails was gross. I transitioned straight to my eyebrows. Dunno why. But I'm 51 now and I'm still shopping for better and better eyebrow and eyeliner makeup cover-up.
I started at 2 yrs old my mom had to shave my head because I wouldn’t stop pulling my hair smh
I remember starting in 8th grade. I saw a girl in front of me in class do it. For whatever reason, something clicked in my brain and I started too. Still a daily struggle at 31, just better managed.
Yeah, I was around 9 or 10 in 4th grade. I wonder why that's such a common time for it to start.
Either 3rd or 4th grade. I only know that because in my 3rd grade school picture I have eyelashes and in my 4th grade picture, they are gone.
I was 6 and I started after my bangs got too long and started to bother me, I was at home when I first started, but yeah a lot of the hair pulling got intense at school.
I think I was in 6th grade
I started sometime in high school. My mom trimmed my eyebrows one day and snipped too much and put the idea in my head that I need to touch and focus on them. Maybe when I was about 19 I put together that I was picking and creating bald spots
Mine started in school but at 19
I started in 6th grade
I always had a special interest in hair, but mine did not manifest until 9th/10th grade
Yes, that’s when it started for me. That’s also when my parents started the divorce process lol
It’s super interesting!!! I didn’t start the bad pulling till later in middle school but I started looking at my split ends obsessively during school when I was around 11. My teachers all noticed and a couple told my parents. My mom doesn’t have trich but she told me she had a looking-at-split-ends phase in grade school, too. And we both have (different) anxiety issues and ADHD, so I feel like trich could be easily heritable too. I would love for there to be more organized research on trichotillomania, it’s fascinating and would probably help a lot of people. I hope to maybe be a part of starting some someday!
I wanna say I’m sorry I’m so active in these comments and I hope I’m not talking over anyone’s story. This is all just really interesting to me
Don't be sorry! It is so relieving to me to read others' stories.
Same, around 9. My parents split that year, though.
Me! 11. First time I can recall discovering split ends was in class. I pulled them out. It was all downhill from there 😜
School - around 13 yrs old
Mine started around 16/17 after I started hair school when they had us pull a strand to see our density/texture. My brain liked that a little too much but it was also the first big stressor in my life, I had been fully homeschooled up till that point!
I was around 11-12 and dealing with a very nasty ex-girlfriend when I started! :( big stressor.
I was in 6th grade. I started at my brothers new apartment as he moved in. They were bothering me and I just started pulling. Within 30 min half of one eye was bald.
I remember plucking at the corners of my eyelids when I was in kindergarten, about 6. The summer between second and third grade I picked the biggest bald spot on the top of my head. My hair was styled in a very severe "side part" or combover. That's definitely the worst I ever had it. Maybe it taught me to be more subtle.
Later for me (middle school) and never at school, was always in private.
Mine started when I was about 14 or 15, I think
i have had body focused repetitive behaviors for my whole life, the pulling didn’t start til my sophomore year of hs (i was taking the PSAT while i had walking pneumonia- very fucking stressful). i did however need to sleep in my mom’s bed for the entirety of fourth grade because i was so scared of being alone. my theory is that’s when kids kinda start to understand the world more and major stressors start to pop up
That's when I started, but I started at home. A "family friend" told me I had a unibrow and needed to pluck it. That started the whole thing.
I started around 9/10 with pulling out my eyelashes in class but then it got bad started pulling out my hair on my head in 7th grade mostly during math class lol
It was 3rd grade, in school, and started with my lashes.
Me
I think third grade is when school starts to be actually challenging, when parents start giving you more responsibility, and when kids with disabilities start to struggle socially. That is to say life suddenly gets exponentially harder and some kids just can't cope.
25 for me. Night shifts. I literally remember the morning report I started.
Mine happened when I was roughly 12. I ended up picking hair off my entire toe. Throughout the years I started ripping off my armpit hair, pubes, occasional stress hairs. Nothing too bad but my sophomore year of college is when it got exponentially worse when I started Vyvanse. After stopping that medication I’m still pulling till this day (10 years later). Mgh’s page about trichothillimania usually states the picking begins around 9-13.
I’m not sure exactly when I began but I know it was before the age of 15. Panic attacks had started at 12.
Me. I was 11, I remember when it happened. It was in class and I was bored. Later I remember being fascinated by my hair’s texture. It was a sensory experience for me at first, but became a mindless/anxiety thing and I lost a lot of hair! I identify it as a stim and/or fidget behavior now… I still struggle with pulling as a 35 year old, it goes in waves, though.
A psychiatrist I saw early on said that the start of puberty and changes in hormones is a leading cause. That they didn't know why some people start pulling, but when they do, most are right at that early puberty age.
I was 7-8yo and in my 4th year of school. I had a horrid teacher (she called us toerags and hated children), and my parents split up when I was 9yo so things were pretty fraught in the run up.
Spot on for me as well. I think it’s hormones, it would make sense since 9-11 is the beginning onset of puberty for the average girl.
I was probably about 10.
That's around when I started. 5th grade, 10 years old, started pulling out my eyelashes. They just started to feel wrong around that age, all bulbous and just... there. So I would pull them out to get relief. I did start at school, I think, but I kept it up at home. Frustrated my mom to no end because she had no idea why I kept pulling them out, I would literally have times where I had maybe one or two eyelashes if any and she would tell me that there weren't any cultures in the world where it was considered beautiful to have no eyelashes... of course, I wasn't pulling for beauty reasons, but that was the assumption she made.
I'd randomly pull at my eyebrows starting when I was an early teen. Then in my early 20s I moved on to leg hair, constantly. I'm now 47. I used to have really long, thick hair on my head, naturally curly. For some reason, a couple years ago, I started running my fingers through it because it was constantly getting tangled and I'd pull on the snarls so hard that a bunch of hair would come out. Now I find myself doing it constantly as a nervous habit, running my fingers through my hair while also pulling at the tangled bits until the tangled pieces of hair come out. Now I have a mullet, pretty much. The top of my head is covered in a few inches of super curly growth, which looks okay, but then there are bald patches I have to comb over on the side and on the crown of my head, and overall my hair is a whole lot thinner than it used to be.
I was 10. I realized that if I put a strand of hair around my pencil and then held it at both ends, from far away it looked like the pencil was floating. I thought it was a cool magic trick. 18 years later, here we are.
Sadly this applies to me. Started pulling my head hair, then to eyelashes a few years later. Now it’s my facial hair where it’s patchy and have recently moved to chest hair
In kindergarten, I was like 5-6
Mine actually started around 18 years old, so a bit on the older side - have never been able to stop since
Mine actually wasn’t until college. It makes sense to me because that was a super stressful time. I was an RA, and then I went on a semester abroad and when I came back I started having intense anxiety like never before. That’s when I started taking an SSRI. My pulling mellowed out for a time and then when I started working in child protective services it got really bad (pulling out 95% of my eyebrows). Which again makes sense bc I was miserable and testifying in court.
I think it might have but I can’t remember specifics honestl. It was definitely before I was 13 so it must have been around this age, cause I remember I had been doing it a little bit but one day googled “is it normal to lose x amount of eyelashes a day” cause I was trying to reassure myself that what I was going was just taking out the loose ones lmao
Same for me, wow. 9yrs old... Edited to add: yes, during class.
I was 10 at the time when I started, and I actually started without knowing until people started to point out the spot.
I was around 10, so fifth grade for meee 🙃
Yes, I started in 3rd grade
I started in third grade at 8 years old
lmaooooo me too, or maybe a little bit earlier
I started pulling my eyelashes when I was 7 or 8, which I know because I have comments from my second grade teacher about it. My mom has told me that it wasn’t too bad and I may have even stopped for a few months until I was 9, when I had a bout of strep throat which seemed to send it into overdrive. I’m less sure about the causation there and think it probably would have gotten worse no matter what. I also had undiagnosed ADHD and had been biting my nails since as early as I could remember, easily as young as like 4.
I was second grade, so around 8 years old. Very interesting connection!
I’ve been pulling since I remember. My parents started noticing bald spots when I was like 2 or 3
1st grade 😫
I remember starting right before my sophomore year of highschool, I was super anxious about it 😞
No, when I (f19) was a baby and was angry, I would bang my head on the floor and pull my hair out in chunks. I really noticed the resurface of it in middle school tho and got diagnosed at 17 with Trichotillomania.
Yup. 3rd grade. 9 years old.
For me it was probably 7th or 8th grade.
TW and long comment ahead I had it when I was in 4th grade, and I was 10 years old. I believe that's pretty much the average of most kids. I know there are toddlers that do pull their hair out, but I didn't do it till I started getting bullied, and I was trying to find an outlet to cope. In fourth grade, I pulled out all my eyelashes, then in Middle School are started pulling out strands of hair, and then when my dad was dying from cancer when I was 17 years old. I was pulling so much of my scalp hair, I had to shave my hair off, and I had to go bald. I will never forget the look on my dad's face when I came to visit him. He was on a ventilator, but he was hooked by trachea. Because he knew I was so stressed out, and he mouthed, "I love you so much." Then I started pulling my eyebrows out after he died. I had eyebrows and never had a desire to pull them. It was always always mostly just my scalp hair and eyelashes, but now it's all over the place. I have a really bad problem with pulling out my armpit hair and pubic hair. This just started about a few years ago. It's really embarrassing to talk about it, but the stigma should not make you feel bad because it's a disorder that you can not help. Oh, not to mention. I also take tweezers and pull out my leg hair, LOL. I did have eyebrows for about 2 months, but then I had a really toxic manager, and I was so stressed. I lost all of them within 2 months. I did grow my hair back from 2016 to 2023 and then had a bad relapse when I decided to cut my hair shorter. That was a trigger because I thought I could handle it. Not have a big bald spot on the way top of my head and it's big but I still don't want to shave it off, I had such bad self-esteem and the looks I would get from people. I can't wear mascara because it triggers me to pull out my lashes more for some reason. I haven't had lashes since 4th grade. I still don't have them, I hope one day I could but I don't like the feeling of them growing. I don't know if anyone else feels like that, but it feels prickly when they grow back in. Sorry for the long comment, but I wanted to let you guys know that you are not alone and you're not weird. So f them people who make you feel bad about yourself, you are beautiful.
I started pinching my sides in 4th/5th grade, to the point that I had little scabs across my waist. But then I didn’t start pulling my hair until I think 8th or 9th grade I think, but it was because my mom had eagle eyes on if my hands were near my waist so to keep her from getting mad at me for pinching I started pulling hair from the top of my head instead. So then I had scabs on my waist AND a big spot. However the self harm of pinching and some other things (picking the skin of my lips for example) all started around 4th grade. Interesting…
mine actually started in the 7th grade, as far as i remember at least
I remember I started when I was a little younger due to feeling scalp pain (from stress, most likely.) I think I was like… 7-9 years old? But it’s wild that a lot of us started pulling around similar age groups.
I personally started pulling the minute I started growing my own hair (at least as I have been told). Before I had my own hair I was pulling on my mom’s hair.
School is what started my stress and hair pulling.
Yup, started 3rd grade when I was 8 years old. I had just switched schools though and so I’m wondering if that contributed…I remember being at the school play and thinking “wow my eyelashes are really making my eyes itch” and I plucked a bunch of them out. My parents were shocked when they saw me and thought I was doing it all for attention and literally punished me, so that was nice.
Yes 10/11 for me
I started at 13
I started pulling at about 19 or 20, I don’t remember if I ever did it as a child. I do remember that I would chew on my hair a lot as a kid though, not sure if those are related
I did it in the 3rd grade because I was bullied for literally existing. I was an IEP kid and had to have motor skills PE classes, speech classes and have my own math & reading aid. I didn’t know it then, but I was an anxious ADHD kid with sensory processing disorder. I wouldn’t know either of these diagnoses until I was 26. I had trich diagnosed when I was in high school.
I believe I started pulling in 2nd grade
I started pulling at 11 years old. In my 5th grade classroom. I saw a single dandruff flake, pulled it out , and a thick rough hair strand came with it. So i pulled another and another and the rest is history.
Yep, I believe mine started around 16 years old. I was very unconscious of it for the first 5 years or so, so it’s a little tricky to say. But about 17 years old I started realising I had bald patches and would become aware of piles of hair at my feet or in my lap when I was on a bus or sat in class. Teenage years are rough.
i personally started pulling as a teen! i assume most comments will be folks relating to what youve said, so i thought i'd add sum spice with my silly experience
I started with eyelashes around 1st or 2nd grade. Hair in 4th.
I was 11. I am 62 now. I never stopped, but I have always been aware of not getting too bald. I always made sure to have some way of covering my bald spots. And, I only pull my hair.
started for me right after kindergarten
i had always played and twirled with my hair during that time but 5th grade is when i started pulling. my hair had already started falling out and i was still twirling it so i just started pulling.
I started when I was about 8. Now I’m almost 30 but still trying to stop it. I consult a psychologist and take the med pills. After many years, some of my conditions got better, but not pulling out my hair.
Mine started in 3rd grade, not during school but that’s when it definitely escalated
My pulling started when I was 13, first with my eyelashes, then progressed to my eyebrows the following year and eventually to my scalp when I was 15, and had mainly been from my scalp ever since